For the Love of a Woman
by RoxanneReluisant
Summary: A hypothetical conversation between Snape and Lily. After Snape hears the prophecy, he figures out on his own that Lily could be one of the targets, and he goes to her, to beg her to run away before he has to tell Voldemort what he heard. Oneshot.


**For the Love of a Woman**: A hypothetical conversation between Snape and Lily. After Snape hears the prophecy, he figures out on his own that Lily could be one of the targets, and he goes to her, to beg her to run away before he has to tell Voldemort what he heard. Oneshot.

**DEDICATED TO NONREALITYROCKS: **For being the 150th reviewer on my story _9 Years with the Marauders_. Thanks so much!

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He waited for James to leave. Once the leader of the bullies and pranksters of school, now the bespectacled figure wasn't even aware of his fate. He watched from across the street under the shadow of a tree as James looked around, and then Disapparated with a pop, vanishing to where ever he was going. Snape should have been more curious as to where James went. After all, he had been standing outside the Potters' house for three days now, only Disapparating to find something to eat or use the bathroom.

Finally though, tonight he walked up to the house. He felt protection charms surrounding the place. They pressed against him like a waterfall, preventing him from moving too much closer to the front door. He muttered a few words as he walked up to the door, and the charms faded. It was still like moving through thick sand, slowing his progress. Finally he managed to get the protection spells weak enough so that he could unlock the door with his wand.

He yanked the door open and stepped inside. There was a laugh from the direction of the living room. "James? Did you forget something again?"

Lily froze in the doorway as she saw Severus standing there in the foyer. One arm was wrapped around a pile of blankets with a small pink face. Her free wand whipped her wand out of her pocket before Severus could even open his mouth.

"_Stupefy_!"

"_Protego_." Snape hissed, using his wand to deflect the spell towards the floor, where it burned a hole in the front carpet. "_Expelliarmus_." He added, watching Lily's wand fly away and skid across the floor.

Lily instantly curved her body inwards around the baby. Snape took a step back towards the door. "The moment you opened that door with magic you summoned James back!" She shot out. "He'll kill you before you can touch us!"

Snape flicked his hand around towards the door, locking it securely. "I'll only be here a moment." He said quietly. "I'm not trying to hurt you."

She didn't relax in the slightest. "I have no reason to trust you."

"I'm not asking you to." He hissed, feeling irritable and foolish. "I'm trying to talk to you."

Although she stopped talking, she started moving towards the living room, back towards her wand. The baby made a fussing noise, and automatically she started to bounce him up and down on her hip, making a small hushing noise. Severus looked at the baby. It had a tuft of black hair, and stunning green eyes, so clearly belonging to Lily it was painful to see.

"There's been a prophecy. About who will destroy the Dark Lord."

Lily's eyes narrowed. Severus looked away from her, only glancing out of the corner of his eye to see how close she was to her wand. "A child born at the end of July to parents who have defied the Dark Lord three times. There were only two children born at the end of July to parents of the Order, Lily. One of them was yours."

She made a sound, clutching the baby ever closer. "Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to warn you. I want you to come with me."

"What?"

"I don't want you to die, Lily, please." Severus' voice became pleading, almost child-like. Her eyes softened only slightly. "Come with me, run away. There are places the Dark Lord will not look. I will keep you safe."

"And my child? What about Harry? You'll protect him I suppose?" Lily said sarcastically.

"If you bring him, I will protect him as well. As though he were my own." He said seriously. He heard noises behind him, behind the door. Voices.

"You think I'll just leave James, trust you, believe that you won't turn me and Harry right over to the Death Eaters the first chance you get?"

"Damn it Lily, I love you! I always have!" Severus said, and the door behind him shook slightly. He muttered a shield charm to just keep it closed a little while longer. She seemed dumbstruck. "Since we were children. I can't let you die. You are everything to me. Even now, even while I'm one of them. I can stop feeling, I can kill, I believe in what they want, but the one thing I can't do is stop loving you."

Lily looked pityingly at him. "I cared about you once, Severus. But I can't ever trust you again. I don't even know if you are telling the truth now. Get out. Get out before James gets here, before he brings a dozen Aurors and maybe Dumbledore himself to the door to kill you. That's the one thing I'll do for you, as the man who was once my friend."

Just as she finished the door exploded outward. Snape whirled, feeling a spell shoot over his head, and he spun and Disapparated from the foyer, leaving James and Kingsley and Sirius all standing in the doorway, wands pointing at empty air.

Snape shuddered to a stop outside a small playground. It was dark, but he could see the flowers littered on the ground, remembering a small girl with red hair using magic to make them fly through the air. He slumped onto a swing, every gangly inch of him, and made a soft sound, almost like a sob. After only a moment of time to himself, he felt a familiar burning on the interior of his arm, and he closed his eyes and staggered to his feet, going where his master summoned him.

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**Author's Notes**: So this was a request oneshot from NonRealityRocks, for whom this story is also dedicated to. I thought it might be a fun diversion. I'm not a big fan of Severus, nor a big fan of Severus/Lily. But I always like challenging myself as a writer. I feel this story is a bit cheesy at the end. xD But I hope you like it!


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